OC Science Olympiad 2013 winners

Preliminary results show these six teams will go on to the Southern California competition. Officials will finalize the results in a week.

1. Troy High School

2. University High School

3. Northwood High School

4. Valencia High School

5. Canyon High School

6. Aliso Niguel High School

Source: OC Science Olympiad.

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Troy High School team members rose from their seats amid applause to accept first place in the OC Science Olympiad on Friday at Golden West College.

Few expected anything less. This is Troy's 18th consecutive win.

"I was a little surprised," said Sean Muleady, 17, of Troy High. "The schools seem to be getting better and better. There's a lot of competition."

Six teams will go on to the Southern California Science Olympiad in April at Canyon High School. The preliminary results show these teams are in the top six: University High and Northwood High of Irvine, Valencia High of Placentia, Canyon High of Anaheim Hills and Aliso Niguel High.

Aliso Niguel High School and Woodbridge High of Irvine tied for sixth place with 131 points each. Officials will finalize the top six teams after a week of review.

Canyon High senior Tiana Baghdikian, 17, was relieved when her team placed.

"I'm glad that I'm going out on a good note," she said. "I'm excited. We're going to kick butt at state."

Twenty-three high schools and 15 middle schools participated Friday at the 28th annual Regional Science Olympiad at Golden West College in Huntington Beach and at Santa Ana College. The Olympiad tests student talents in 17 science, math, engineering and technology events.

Evelyn Yeh and Justin Leong represented Troy High School in the robot arm contest. About 20 people stood quietly next to empty desks in the math classroom to watch Yeh and Leong activate a robot arm they built.

To win, a team must direct the robot arm to accurately grab pencils, ping pong balls, nails and PVC pipes, and place them delicately into three open containers. Teams get points for dropping objects into the furthest container. They win 10 bonus points for each object they drop through the mouth of a half-gallon plastic milk jug – no easy feat.

Engineering competitions included an egg drop; elastic band glider, where students demonstrated flight inside the gym; gravity vehicle, in which students calculated a way to stop their vehicle on a marked line after launching it down a ramp; boomilever, a student-built device that attaches to a wall and must hold 15 kg of sand without breaking.

Inside other classrooms, students were tested on their knowledge of genes, human disease, forestry, circuits, thermodynamics, anatomy and physiology and more.

"Our office views Science Olympiad as a perfect gateway into STEM careers because every field is represented here," said Dean Gilbert, science coordinator for the O.C. Department of Education.

Event information is released in January, but many teams begin practicing and studying months earlier.

Yeh, 15, and Leong, 17, spent about 50 hours practicing with the robot arm they built earlier this year.

Valencia high school student, Grant Wang, 14, helps his partner, Krish Seth, 15, direct their robotic arm as it picks up and drops pencils, PVC pipe, nails, and ping-pong balls into plastic boxes during the Orange County Regional Science Olympiad. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Ron Stedman, 80, of Fullerton claps after a pair of students are judged during the robotic arm competition of the Orange County Regional Science Olympiad, held Friday at Golden West College in Huntington Beach and Santa Ana College. Stedman has an engineering background and provided students with the space and opportunity to build engineering devices. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Los Amigos high school student, Kathy Pham, 17, of Fountain Valley releases her gravity car after tightening the brake system. The cars are constructed without any electric parts and judged based on the distance they travel off the ramp. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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